Chair for automotive vehicles with a displaceable back



United States Patent Mario Revelli de Beaumont Via Cravero 70,Gruglinsco, Italy 2] Appl. No. 777,090

[72] Inventor [22] Filed Nov. 19, 1968 [45] Patented Nov. 17, 1970 [32]Priority Dec. 2, 1967 [3 3 Italy [54] CHAIR FOR AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLES WITHA DISPLACEABLE BACK -5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl 297/284, 297/376. 297/460 [51 Int. Cl A47c 7/46 [50] Fieldof Search 297/460 376, 284, 355,103, 383, 36!, 353

[56] v References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 660,904 10/1900 Kling .7.297/103 1,473,541 1 1/1923, Berninghaus 297/381 Primary Examiner-Reinaldo P Machado Attorney-Young and Thompson ABSTRACT: A chair forautomotive vehicles wherein th back is connected to the seat, on eachside, by means of a pa. of hinged members forming a hinged quadrilateralwhich a lows forward and rearwards displacement of the back witreference to the seat.

Patented Nov. 17, 1970 3,540,777

Sheet 1 of2 INVENTOR MAM/0 295%.: L .05 134-7? (IMO/V7 BY W *JMATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 17, 1970 3,540,777

INVENTOR Mme/0 fizz 11. A5 5540mm;

BY P

ATTORNEYJ' modify said tilt; both above mentioned adjustments mayfurtherbe made conjointly or independently.

By carrying out said two adjustments, or but one of them, the driver canadjust the chair in an effective and complete way, making it fitaccording to its own constituting character and suitable for anyindividual requirement, so as to obtain the most complete functionalcomfort, which has a noticeable importance especially in sportsvehicles, but which offers a not negligible advantage also inothercases, particularly on vehi-' cles appointed for long travels or runningon hard roads;

According to the invention, the seat is connected with the back throughmembers 'and joints forming a hinged quadrilateral having at leastablockable joint and preferably also with a joint having a variablehinging position, and provided with blocking means for securing theagreed hinged position.

The following description is made with reference to the annexed drawingswhich show a not restrictive embodiment thereof.

In the drawings:

FIG. I is a diagram of the arrangement according to the invention,showing the behaviour of a human body, particularly ,of the femoralregion thercof, related to the backs positions with respect to the seat;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic side view of the connection means between seatand back, in a firstposition;

" wide limits with respect to what described and illustrated islocatedthrough a slot 6 (FIG. 4) and is provided with a correspondinglocking device 7 and according to such an arrangement, at least one-ofthequadrilateral sides may be lengthened or shortened, or may anyhow bemade not parallel to t e opposite side, ceasing thereby to constitute aparallelogram and allowing to vary the tilt of the back while operatingits forward or backwards movement, or after having fixed itslongitudinal position (or, moreover, independently from saidlongitudinal displacement).

In other words,'the longitudinal position and the inclination of theback become two adjustmentswhich may be done conjointly orindependently.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to the preceding figure, but in a secondposition, wherein the back has been I displaced backwards withoutchanging its tilt;- I

FIG. 4 shows a modification, and therein the back, instead of havingbeen retracted, has been subjected to a tilting variation with referenceto the position of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 shows a further modification.

Referring now to the drawings; 1 is the seat .ofthe chair, and

it is diagrammatically and incompletely shown, since it does not havenecessarily by itself any distinctive peculiarity.

The back 2' is linked from each side to the seat 1 (viz. to itsframework), by means of a hinged parallelogram made of a pair ofconnecting rods 3 and 4. At least one of the four joints of thisparallelogram'can be locked by means of a screw tightening handwheel 5(or by whatever other known or special locking device). Suchhinged'parallelogram connection,

when the locking device is released, makes it possible to move the backportion 2 forward and backwards, without loosing a perfect parallelismwith its primary position; by tightening thereafter the locking device5, the back 2 will be secured in the position to which it has beenbrought.

Preferably, the back is divided in two parts, an upper main part 2' anda lower smaller part 2", as illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3. The lower backpart 2" is supported by the connecting rods 3 and 4 and may be fastenedto, some of said rods, whereby it will accompany their correspondinginclination, or may be an ticulated so as to become swinging freely, ormay even by connected in its turn through a double joint in a similarmanner to According to a modification (FIG. 5), in order to varytheinclination, the quadrilateral doesnot miss its parallelogramfeatu'reand one of its virtual sides, formed by one of the two elementsof thechair. (Le. back and seat) is replaced by an insert ,8 (forinstance a rocker arm) capable of a securable swinging movement'withrespect to the chair body. Thepo'sitional'variation of said rocker arr'ncauses a variation of the for varying the longitudinal position oftheback of the chair.

Likewise, the construction of said devicemay be varied within above, soas tobe fit for all practical requirements, and form eventualcombination with other devices existing on the vehicle, or by thereplacement of some elements by their technically equivalent means.lclairn:

1. A' chair for automotive vehicle, comprising a seat and a back, andconnecting means between said seat and said back,

including on eachside a first member articulated at its ends with saidseat and said back, a second member articulated with said seat and saidback, said first, and second member on each :side, said seat and saidback forming a hinged quadrilateral; atleast a locking device connectedto aportion of said chair and to one of said connecting means, and meansfor varyingthe inclination of said back with respect to said seat,whereby said back may be moved in forward and rearwards directions withrespect to said seat and can be secured in the chosenposition and withthe chosen inclination.

2. A chair as set forth in claim 1, wherein said second member isparallel to said first member and has. the same length as said firstmember, so that said hinged quadrilateral is a parallelogram andsaidback maintains unchanged the chosen inclination when it is moved inforward and rearward directions with respect to the seat, whereby thechoices of the position and inclination of the back are independent.

'3. A chair as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a slot in one.of said members and a connecting and locking device that of the upperpart 2' of the back, so as to be displaced in I parallel relation tosaid part 2'.

However, such a subdivision in two parts of the back is not necessaryfor carrying out the invention; in fact, according to the FIGS. 4 and 5,the back 2' may also be made in one piece, i.e.without the separatelymovable lower part 2".

In the cases wherein it should be possible to vary also the tilt of theback, at least one of the parallelogram joints, which may be the samementioned before or another of the existing four,

cooperating with said slot, whereby the inclination of said back may bevaried and secured.

14. A. chair as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a rockerfarrnarticulated to the ends of said members and'to a portion of the chair,anda locking means mounted on the same portion of the chair andcooperating with said rocker arm, whereby the inclination of said backmay be varied and secured.

5. A chair as set forth in claim 1, wherein said back comprises a mainupper portion hinged to said members and a smaller lower portionconnected at least to some of said members and supported by them.

